Victory From the Ashes

It's been a long week. We're back in gun production after last week's shutdown, but Barney, our cell leader, has still been on vacation, as has Mike the supervisor, so we've pretty much been on our own. That isn't a biggie, since Fred, Brad, and Jim know what to do inside and out, but as they aren't really the authority none of them really broke down what everybody would be doing (Brad would be the one to step in if none of us were to do anything), so we kind of all fell into our default positions. Since Jason was also out all week on a leave of absence something or other, I took over both gas-block and slide fit, which can be a daunting task. But that's the kind of thing I do. I take the biggest bite of the pie that I can handle, even if sometimes I can only barely handle it. That's because I still feel as though I have something to prove.

Anyway, trying to cover both spots while keeping up with Jim, who was doing the bolt fit part that follows the slide fitting part, is a challenge. If I get in trouble on something, and it sets me back, people might be waiting for me, and I hate that. So I push hard to make sure that nobody ever has to wait for me to finish something so that they can do their thing, no matter what. How I set out to do that sort of violates the piece flow ideas advocated by Indiana Bob, but tough shit. If left alone I'll build up a reasonable supply, so that anytime Jim turns around I have a gun there for him. And for me to feel comfortable I need to build up a cushion of three or four parts ready.

There's a phrase for how I go at this, which is borrowed from some movie or other (I dunno; but I haven't seen it): Attack and never stop attacking. That's how I used to screen the foil, too. I would throw myself at the jobs with reckless abandon until they were done. Here, I keep building as much as possible ... without getting *too* far ahead.

However, the week was rough. On Wednesday we started the first of what would become four consecutive orders of Targets. Those can be a problem. For whatever reason the pieces that are needed for those guns don't fit together as well as the parts that go to the others. So I got into trouble trying to get the goddam gas block bottom, gas pipe, and bushing to fit. Then I got into trouble with some misaligned gas block tops, and ended up stripping a slew of screws trying to get the fucking things put together. And then the slide assemblies were tricky to get working, too. So Wednesday closed out rough. Thursday was a clusterfuck all day, to the point where I was only just not swearing out loud in colorful form. I got behind, people were waiting for me, and even when I was keeping up it was only by the skin of my teeth. I was never more than one ahead at any point, and I felt the pressure.

After lunch, Kent, who is like Mike's boss, came by to see how we were doing, and he observed me reaming out some of the gas block holes, and asked why, so I told him why, and I showed him one, and he took those parts down to the machine shop to look into it, and then one of the machine techs came out to see us, and I showed him, and he knew what the problem was and went to look into it. Meanwhile, I still had to do my best with what I had to work with, and I was so aggravated and frustrated that I started contemplating looking through the want-ads for other work opportunities. Or maybe I'd up and move to Phoenix or something. Whatever.

Today didn't start out much better. I continued to struggle with those gas blocks, until I got Bob (our spider) to switch out the ones I had with some fresh ones from the machine shop. Oh, and they fit together like watch parts, baby. And then it was ON from that point. I started slamming like a motherfucker and built up a lead of four guns on the slide bench, and two more in the gas block area, and I maintained that lead the rest of the day. In fact, since that was as far as I let myself get ahead, there were times that I got to stand around and wait for the next operation (especially when Jim passed it off to Allen, who doesn't really know how to do bolt assembly all too well), and I enjoyed that. I'm not much of a stand around guy, but given the couple days I'd just survived I was all for it.

A bit after lunch Brad took over the bolt fitting part, and I kept that same lead built up. Everytime he took a gun from my stash of four I had another one ready to go over there. Jim was kind of watching how I was doing it, and I think he could see the instincts that were coming into play, how I was watching for when Brad took a gun and whatnot, and he said

"I think you would have done great on incentive."

Incentive is the old system Rugers used to use, in which people were paid more the more guns they churned out. I don't really get how it works completely, but the older guys really like it better than the Lean system they're forced to use now. So I understood that to be a rather nice compliment, and it was just what I needed to hear this afternoon.

I understand that I'm not a natural at this sort of work. As with many of the things I do, I need time to build up my skills. I'm not sure I've ever drilled anything before in my life, in fact. When I got there I didn't even understand how the whole gun worked, and I'm not sure that I do now either. But I wasn't a natural screener either, and I became the best. I may not be the best in that cell, since there are some really experienced guys in there, but I sure as fuck will not be the weak link of the group.

And nobody will ever try harder than I will.